adies left at the garrisons to
club together, share expenses, and thereby economize. Old No. 12 was
still at Mira's service, but she couldn't bear the house, she said, and
so the ladies moved their furniture into an abandoned bachelor den next
to Flight's, and for a few days all went merrily. Then there came a
servants' squabble, and their cook differed with Mrs. Flight's
maid-of-all-work, and, refusing arbitration, was impudent to her
employers. Mrs. Plodder was an Amazon in whom there was no weakness. She
discharged the cook and sent her back to Braska. Then they "messed" with
Mrs. Flight, and about this time the hops began and the visits from town
and the drives, and Mrs. Plodder presently conceived it to be her duty
to remonstrate with Mira, who wept and stormed, and after a time, as
Willett's visits began to grow frequent, Mrs. Plodder said she would not
remain under the same roof with Mira, and moved over and kept house with
Mrs. Darling. The Cranston household had gone East some time before
this, and, as Mira could not bear the chaplain's worthy wife, and Mrs.
Stone had become estranged, and Mrs. Darling, with Mrs. Plodder, had
decided that she was openly encouraging Mr. Willett's devotions and told
her so, and as Mrs. Leonard held aloof from them, one and all, it must
be admitted that the poor brainless child was restricted in her choice
of friends and intimates. Davies had had but brief time in which to give
her instructions, and there is no use in setting forth their purport. He
asked Mrs. Cranston, if a possible thing, to give his wife the benefit
of her experience and aid her in any way Mira might need, and Margaret
warmly assured him that she was ready at any time and glad to be of any
and every service to Mrs. Davies, but even in so saying she felt well
assured that there was little hope of being of use. What made the matter
worse was that this summer Congress adjourned without making provision
for the pay of the army, even while expecting it to perform rather more
than its customary functions; but here Cranston stepped in and insisted
on placing at Mrs. Davies's disposal a certain sum in Courtenay's bank
at Braska. Davies could return it when Uncle Sam resumed payment, and so
Mira had been provided with a check-book and taught its use. She was, at
least, to have no financial anxieties. The regiment had to remain long
in the field and the Cranstons went home, as Davies expected and had
advised that Mira go w